A lot of folks read of Elmer Keith's experiments with cast hollow point (HP) bullets, or how Skeeter Skelton liked cast HP bullets for law enforcement of hunting and they get interested in casting their own HPs.A quick inspection of the moulds offered today reveals that Lyman makes only a handful of HP moulds, mostly for semi-auto calibers, with only one designed for a hunting handgun (the .44 Magnum) and one for the .45-70.The classic Keith and Thompson HP designs, along with a whole host of other top-notch hunting HPs (like the 311041 HP, or the 358009 HP) are no longer offered by Lyman, and haven't been for years.Many of these curious bullet casters get very down-hearted at this point.Some realize that used bullet moulds are available through the online auction houses, and go online and do a quick search, only to discover the incredible prices that HP moulds tend to go for these days online (it's not unusual for single-cavity HP moulds to sell for over $100 online, clearly there is significant demand for these moulds).At this point a lot of folks just give up.
All is not lost -- if you're a machinist (or know one who understands bullet moulds and bullet casting) you can make your own HP mould from a "standard" mould.In addition, there are also a couple of people in the online casting community that do these HP conversions for friends.Some of these craftsmen do truly beautiful work, but they can be hard to find if you don't know where to look, or who to ask for.
That's where Hollow Point Bullet Mold Service (www.hollowpointmold.com, phone (541)738-2479).Erik Ohlen (the proprietor of Hollow Point Bullet Mold Service) has put together a business of converting customers' moulds to drop HP bullets, and he's easy to find.For customers that aren't exactly sure of what they want, Erik has put together a set of very well thought out guidelines that he will walk the customer through (and I am in complete agreement with his recommendations), but he is also open-minded and will prepare moulds to suit a customer's wild ideas as well.Erik makes his HP pins using a very clever collar/pin arrangement that allows them to be both adjustable and interchangeable, allowing the caster to make a variety of HP styles and vary the expansion properties to whatever their little heart desires.His HP pins are made out of precision ground hardened steel, and he can grind these pins to a wide variety of HP profiles.I checked out his website, and the prices listed were very reasonable.The beauty of a service like this is that it give the customer ready access to wide variety of HP designs, even HPs that have never been made before!
As soon as I found out about his service, I had to send him a handful of moulds so I could get a feel for the quality of his work (besides one can never have too many HP moulds!).After a brief wait, I got my moulds back, and the first thing I noticed was how well centered the HP channels were.This is of critical importance to a HP mould and Erik's work was first-rate.The next thing I noticed was how well the precision-ground hardened-steel pin fit into the HP channel (much better than is typically seen on the old-style Lyman HP moulds).Erik uses a clever cam surface on the collar to insure that the HP pin is held snugly against the mould blocks with every pour, so the depth of the cavity is exactly the same on every bullet.
One of the things I like in a HP mould is to have the HP pin rounded off so that the alloy flows smoothly and easily around the pin during the pour, and there are no trapped air pockets from the turbulence that a squared off pin can cause.Even with a perfect pour, a squared-off pin results in a HP cavity with a sharp corner at the bottom, and this results in stress risers during the expansion process, which can promote fragmentation.A round-bottomed HP cavity is more prone to mushroom, and stay in one piece (i.e. be a good hunting bullet).I had asked Erik to round off the tips of these HP pins and he did a very nice job (but if you want a squared-off pin, he will do that too).
Erik does several kinds of mould conversions.He can convert a mould to drop HP bullets using a standard pin and keeper system (much like the H&G and Lyman HP moulds).He can convert a mould to drop HP using the Cramer-style system of holding the HP pin in the mould blocks using two transverse pins (this conversion has the significant bonus of being compatible with multi-cavity HP moulds).He can also convert the mould to drop cup-point style of hollow-points.I decided to look into all three types of mould conversions.
The Ideal 403149 dates back to the 1890s, and is Ideal's version of the original 330 grain .40 caliber grooved bullet used in both the Straight and Bottle-necked versions of the .40-70 and .40-90 Sharps.Several years ago, I rechambered a 10" 10mm Contender barrel (1 in 16" twist) to .40-50 Sharps Straight.This little gun has always shot just fine with cast bullets ranging from 200 grains up to 330 grains, but what I've always wanted was a 300+ grain cast HP for hammering hogs.I had two single-cavity Ideal 403149 moulds (i.e. I had a spare), so I sent one off to Erik with the instructions that it be fitted with a HP pin .120" in diameter, extending approximately .375" into the bullet's nose, tapered for easy release from the bullet, and having a rounded tip.I got just what I asked for.My intention was to run these about 1400 fps from a 10" Contender, so I chose an BHN of ~12 to give both good accuracy and to expand well upon impact.Once the mould heated up, it cast very nicely, and virtually refused to drop a reject.The bullets dropped from the blocks smoothly and easily.The HP cavities were perfectly centered.Bullets weighed 315 grains and miked .404".I loaded these bullets into .40-50 Sharps Straight cases (that I had previously formed from .303 British brass) over several different test loads.This cartridge responds best to powders in the 3031 to 4895 range, so test loads were assembled with 3031, 4895, 2015 BR and Varget.Velocities were generally in the 1250-1425 fps range.The fastest load tested was a heavily compressed load of 37.0 grains of 4895 and the most accurate load tested with this bullet was 35.0 grains of 4895 (4895 gives remarkably uniform ballistics in this cartridge).Accuracy was good and expansion testing of this cast HP at these velocities showed that expansion was positive (recovered bullets retained well over 70% of their original weight).I have a pig hunt scheduled for later this spring and the .40-50 Sharps Straight loaded with this 315 grain Ideal 403149 HP loaded to about 1350 fps is going to play a starring role on that trip.
(photo of the 403149 HP bullet, loaded round and expanded bullet)
Many years ago a unique HP system was employed by Cramer moulds to make HP bullets.In the Cramer system, the HP pin was held in place by two transverse roll pins that went through one of the mould blocks.This system had many advantages -- it kept the HP pin with the blocks so it stayed warm and wasn't as easy to lose, it allowed for multiple cavity HP moulds, and it significantly speeded up the casting cadence for casting HP bullets.A couple of years ago, my respected friend John Taffin gave me a 2-cavity Cramer mould (#25A), in which one of the cavities had been made (at the factory) to drop a HP bullet and the other cavity was for the corresponding solid.At some point over the years, the HP pin for the HP cavity had been lost (the Cramer system is good, but it's not foolproof).Erik had mentioned an interest in working with the Cramer HP system, so I sent him this mould to repair.I have several other Cramer HP moulds (and am quite fond of them), and I can say without any reservation that Erik's repair is clearly of higher quality than the original Cramer HP pins.In place of roll pins, Erik used hardened steel pins for transverse alignment pins.The fit is beautiful; the new HP pin assembly glides smoothly into and out of the mould block with each opening.Erik will also convert standard moulds to HP using the Cramer-style HP pin arrangement, and he does an outstanding job.He's the only person I know of providing this service.
(photo of the repaired Cramer #25A HP mould)
I cast up a batch of bullets using the repaired Cramer HP mould, and one of the first things I noticed was how quickly and easily this mould generated a healthy supply of solids and HPs (almost as fast as casting with a standard 2-cavity mould), thus giving me solid bullets to practice with, and HP bullets to hunt with, all at the same time.The hardened pins that Erik used slid smoothly through the mould blocks, allowing the pin to release the bullets quickly and easily.Also, the hardened steel pins had another benefit that I hadn't foreseen -- in the event of an overflow that spilled over the side of the mould, when the alloy hardened, it just slipped right off of the hardened steel pin and casting proceeded unimpeded.When such a spill happens with a roll pin, the hardened alloy generally sticks steadfastly to the roll pin and prevents the pin from sliding and releasing the bullet, so the casting session comes to a screeching halt until the spill is cleaned off.Not so with the hardened steel pins, where the alloy just slides right off.When cast to a BHN of ~8, the Cramer #25A solid flat-point weighed 165 grains, and the HP weighed 156 grains.Both bullets were about .361" in diameter, and once again the HP cavities were perfectly centered.The first load I tried with these cast HPs was 6.5 grains of HS-6, sparked with a Winchester Small Pistol Primer, and these Cramer #25A HPs shot very well indeed from a 6" K-38 Masterpiece, with 5-shot groups running right at 1" (915 fps).Expansion testing at this velocity produced nice controlled mushrooming and over 80% weight retention (at full-throttle .357 Magnum velocities this bullet will undoubtedly expand violently and probably fragment).This load was also tested in a 3" round-butt heavy barreled Model 10, and it shot very nicely indeed (805 fps).
(photo of Cramer #25A HP loaded into .38 Special over 6.5 grains of HS-6, as-cast bullet, and recovered expanded bullet)
I also sent him a couple of moulds for conversion to what he calls "cup points" which are wide, shallow, conical HP cavities, patterned after North Fork Technologies cup point solids (http://www.northforkbullets.com/magento/) .These cup point bullet moulds are not available anywhere else that I am aware of.Ed Harris has been working with some of Erik's cup point moulds and has been reporting some outstanding results (excellent mushrooming and minimal weight loss), so I wanted to play around with a couple of these myself.What makes these moulds so interesting?Well a HP expands based on the force applied normal to the surface on the inner walls of the HP cavity.For a traditional HP cavity design, this force vector is almost perpendicular to the direction the bullet is traveling, requiring the cavity to be filled with a fluid so this force can be transmitted hydraulically.When hunting varmints and thin-skinned medium game animals, this is generally not a problem as the HP encounters bodily fluids almost immediately upon impact, resulting in reliable and dramatic expansion.In other situations (e.g. a defensive shooting, or shooting a muddy hog), the HP cavity might get plugged with cloth or dirt, thereby impeding this hydraulic force transfer, and potentially leading to irregular performance.With a cup point cavity, the cavity is much more exposed, and the velocity vector is oblique to the inner walls of the cavity, and force can be applied normal to the surface mechanically (i.e. a hydraulic fluid is not required), so impact with this foreign material (e.g. cloth or dirt) can still initiate bullet expansion, making the cup-point potentially more versatile (and perhaps more reliable) than the traditional HP.And since the cavity is so shallow, the amount of metal in the "mouth" of the HP (which can potentially be lost during the expansion process) is minimal, thereby favoring greater weight retention.Ed Harris's testing has shown dramatic expansion, and excellent weight retention, even at modest velocities from .38 snubbies.
(photo of the 454190 cup point mould)
I wanted to learn more about the performance of cup-point bullets, as well as get a feel for how they behave in the casting and loading processes.To do this, I sent a couple of moulds to Erik with instructions to convert them to cup-point moulds.The Ideal 454190 is the traditional round-nose flat-point design for the .45 Colt, dating back to the original Winchester bullet design.It is also one of the most accurate bullets I have ever fired from a revolver.The only problem is that it has a tiny meplat and can be a slow killer -- controlled expansion would fix that.I sent Erik a single cavity Ideal 454190 and he converted it to cast cup-point bullets (I also had him to make a standard HP pin for this mould).The mould was modified exactly as requested.The Ideal 454190 cup-point mould cast very well indeed.With the cup-point HP pin, there was much less of an issue with pin cooling than with normal HP moulds, and casting cadence was smooth and fast.Bullets dropped from the 454190 cup-point mould at 249 grains when cast out of scrap metal from our indoor pistol range (BHN ~8).The whole time I was casting these bullets, I couldn't help but think to myself, "This bullet is going to turn into a 45 caliber wadcutter when it hits meat...".Testing was carried out using a 4" 625-9 Mountain Gun and an 8 3/8" Model 25-5, both chambered in .45 Colt.Bullets were sized .452", lubed with my homemade moly lube, and loaded into W-W .45 Colt cases.This bullet turned in fine accuracy with a wide variety of different powders (e.g. Red Dot, 231, AA #7, etc.), but probably the most useful load was 14.0 grains of HS-7 and a CCI 300 primer.Velocities ran a satisfying 1086 fps from the 8 3/8" Model 25-5, and997 fps from the 4" Mountain Gun.Expansion testing confirmed that this cup-point design basically expands to a wadcutter profile, and retains ~ 95% of its original weight.This could be an interesting hunting bullet.
(photo of 454190 cup-point loaded into .45 Colt, bullet sized and lubed, and a recovered expanded 454190 cup-point)
The bottom-line is that Erik does very good work.He is friendly, polite, and works with the customer in an effort to ensure that the customer gets what they want.He understands the cast HP, how they perform when they hit meat, and how to tailor HP performance for varmint hunting, big game hunting, and a variety of other applications.The cup-point design is a clever new innovation that induces expansion as well, and may prove to be as useful to the handgun hunter as the traditional cast HP.I suspect that cup-points will prove equally valuable for cast bullets in centerfire rifles and high velocity handguns (e.g. Contenders, Encores, etc.) as a result of their improved weight retention (relative to the traditional cast HP).Thanks to Erik Ohlen, moulds for casting HPs are once again available!
